LESSON OVERVIEW Session Title Bible Passage John 21:1-19 Big Picture Question Will Jesus ever stop loving us? Jesus will never stop loving us. Key Passage Matthew 28:19-20 Unit Christ Connection Jesus prepared His disciples for a life of ministry. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with us until He returns. TEACHER BIBLE STUDY Prep Time After Jesus resurrection and His appearance to the disciples, seven of the disciples returned to Galilee, near the Sea of Galilee where Jesus had called four of His disciples to be fishers of men. (See Luke 5:1-11.) Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples went fishing. Perhaps they felt it prudent to return to the fishing business since their stint as disciples was apparently over or so they thought! In Bible times, nighttime was the preferred time for fishing. Fish caught at night could be sold fresh in the morning at market. But at daybreak, the disciples had caught nothing. Jesus stood at the shore, but the disciples did not know it was Him. He called to them, Men, you don t have any fish, do you? (John 21:5). Then He urged them to cast their net on the right side of the boat. They obeyed, and they were unable to haul in the catch! John, the disciple Jesus loved, knew right away who He was. It is the Lord! John exclaimed. Immediately, Peter tied his outer garment around him and jumped into the sea, swimming 300 feet to shore. When the other six disciples arrived in the boat, they found Jesus sitting beside a charcoal fire with fish and bread. Come and have breakfast, Jesus said. Jesus ate with His disciples, then turned to Peter. John 21:15-19 describes Peter s restoration. The disciple who had told Jesus that he would die for Him (Luke 22:31-34) had denied Jesus three times. (Luke 22:54-62) Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Jesus, and each time Peter responded yes, Jesus told Peter to feed His lambs. Jesus restored Peter to ministry. Emphasize to the kids you teach that Jesus plan for the disciples did not end with His death and resurrection. When Jesus first called the disciples to follow Him, Jesus had promised to make them fishers of men. Instead of catching fish, they would tell people about Jesus. (Luke 5:1-11) The disciples had left Jesus when He was arrested, but Jesus still wanted to use them in God s plan to rescue people from their sin. Jesus is a Lord who forgives us and makes things right again. Note to Teachers: Any materials highlighted in red are provided in the classroom 2 & 3 Year Old Classroom Teachers: Classroom structure varies due to scheduled playground time Schedule is posted in each classroom

TRANSITION Time 15 minutes WELCOME 1{T I M E WELCOME/TRANSITION TIME (15 minutes) Greet boys and girls as they arrive. Direct them to work on the color/activity page. After that, they may choose to play with a favorite toy or do another activity that you have provided. 2{ COLOR PAGE ACTIVITY SHEET Match the Fish - Provided Crayons or colored pencils Color/activity sheet, 1 per child Give each preschooler an activity sheet. Help preschoolers draw a line connecting the two matching fish. Younger preschoolers can simply point to the matching fish. Say Today we are going to learn about a time when Jesus friends went fishing. They couldn t catch any fish until a man told them where to throw their nets. When they caught so much fish that they could not pull in their nets, they knew the man was Jesus! 3{ ACTIVITY Paint Fish Provided Give each child a fish page and help them color the fish. For older preschoolers, offer googly eyes to glue onto their fish. Say Some of Jesus friends were fishermen before they followed Jesus. When Jesus died, they went back to fishing again. Do you remember how Jesus friends felt when they saw Jesus? That s right! They were happy and excited! Jesus came to show them that His plan for them was to tell other people about the gospel, not to go back to fishing. Will Jesus ever stop loving us? Jesus will never stop loving us. 4{ WORSHIP Classroom DVD contains worship songs for each unit that the children will enjoy learning. Unit 33 DVD 5{ TRANSITION TO LESSON Use your usual transition cue to signal that it is time for Bible study. Ring the bell, show the countdown video, flip the lights, or clap a simple rhythm for children to copy to gain attention.

LESSON Time 20 minutes Say You can never do anything that would make Jesus stop loving you. No matter what you do, Jesus still loves you, and when you tell Him you are sorry for your sins and ask for forgiveness, He is happy to forgive you. In our story, Jesus goes to see seven of His good friends, who had run away when Jesus was arrested. Jesus found His friends while they were fishing. Let s hear about Jesus forgiving His friends after they made a big mistake. 1 {TIME TELL THE BIBLE 2 { THE BIBLE John 21:1-19 Amazing things happened while Jesus and His friends were in Jerusalem celebrating Passover. Jesus died and after three days, He came back to life just like He said He would do. Jesus friends knew He was alive because they had seen Jesus twice with their own eyes. Now that the Passover was over, it was time to leave Jerusalem and go back to Galilee. Back in Galilee, seven of Jesus friends were together at the sea. Peter said, I m going fishing. The other friends decided to go with him. Several of the friends were fishermen before they left everything to follow Jesus. They knew a lot about fishing, and they knew the best time to fish was at night. Jesus friends got in the boat and fished all night, but they did not catch any fish. Not even one! The next morning the sun was rising, and the friends could see a man on the seashore. The man called out to them, You don t have any fish, do you? No, they answered. Put your fishing net into the water on the right side of the boat instead. You will catch some then, the man said. Would moving the net to the other side really make a difference? The fishermen friends may have thought this was a strange suggestion, but they did what the man said. An amazing thing happened! They did catch fish! They did not just catch a few fish. They caught a lot of fish, so many that they could not even get the net back in the boat because it was too heavy. It is the Lord! John shouted to Peter. It was Jesus! Peter could not wait to see Jesus. Splash! He jumped into the sea and swam to shore. They were not far from the shore, so the other friends came along in the boat behind him, dragging the net full of fish. When they arrived they saw there was fish cooking on a fire and bread to eat. Jesus said, Bring some of the fish you caught. Peter pulled the heavy net up to the shore. The net was full of large fish 153 large fish to be exact. Even with that many fish, the net did not break. Come and have breakfast, Jesus said. Jesus took the bread and gave it to them, and then gave them the fish. No one asked Jesus who He was because they all knew it was their friend Jesus, risen from the dead! After they had eaten, Jesus asked Peter, Do you love Me? Yes, Lord. You know that I love You, Peter said. Feed My lambs, Jesus told him. Jesus asked Peter again, Do you love Me? Yes, Lord. You know that I love You, Peter answered. Watch over My sheep, Jesus told him. Jesus asked Peter one more time, Do you love Me? Peter was very sad that Jesus had asked him again. He said, Lord, You know everything! You know that I love You. Feed My sheep, Jesus said. When Jesus was arrested, all of Jesus friends ran away. Peter pretended that he did not even know who Jesus was three times. Now, Peter had told Jesus that he loved Him three times. Jesus forgave Peter and said, Follow Me! Christ Connection: When Jesus was arrested, His friends ran away. Jesus did what He came to earth to do rescue people from sin. Jesus showed His friends that He still loved them and wanted them to follow Him. Sometimes we make mistakes as we follow Jesus too. Jesus rescued us from sin. We know He forgives us and wants us to continue following Him. * Use only the words in RED to review the Bible story or tell it to younger preschoolers.

REVIEW/ SNACK AND VIDEO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 { BIBLE REVIEW Review/Key Passage Key Passage Poster Big Picture Question Poster Invite kids to answer the following questions: What were Jesus friends doing? (fishing in a boat) Who was the man on shore who called out to them? (Jesus) What did Peter do when he realized Jesus was the man on the shore? (Peter jumped in the water and swam to Jesus!) Did Jesus forgive Peter for saying that he didn t know Jesus three times? (Yes, Jesus forgave Peter.) Will Jesus ever stop loving us? Jesus will never stop loving us. Say When Jesus was arrested, His friends ran away. Jesus did what He came to earth to do rescue people from sin. Jesus showed His friends that He still loved them and wanted them to follow Him. Sometimes we make mistakes as we follow Jesus too. Jesus rescued us from sin. We know He forgives us and wants us to continue following Him. 2 { SNACK Snack Signal for cleanup time using the countdown video or whatever method you prefer. Take a bathroom break and wash hands before the snack. Ask for volunteers to help set up and serve the snack. Remind kids to wait until everyone has been served before eating. Thank God for your snack. 3 { VIDEO Watch Video Show the video (from Classroom DVD)

ACTIVITY/ PICK UP 1 { ACTIVITY Follow Directions - Provided Invite the children to play Simon Says following all the normal rules. Kids must obey a direction if you say Simon says, but they must not obey a direction if you do not say Simon says. For younger preschoolers, allow them to keep playing even if they get confused and mess up. Say Great job following directions! Do you remember what Jesus told His friends to do after they fished all night and didn t catch one single fish? He told them to cast their net on the other side of the boat! Jesus friends obeyed Jesus directions and caught a bunch of fish. It is important to obey Jesus. Jesus is God s Son, and He asks us to do what is right. But if we make a mistake and, we can tell Him we are sorry for our wrong choice, and guess what? He will forgive us! Will Jesus ever stop loving us? Jesus will never stop loving us. 2 { PICK UP Preschool children need to be picked up by a parent/grandparent and the adult must show the parent receipt with matching I.D. number. If the tag is missing, the adult can go to the Welcome Center and have a receipt reprinted. Welcome the nect session teachers and tell them what they need to know about the children who are present.